Three Trap Types to Minimize Boredom

I have been thinking a lot about traps. 

Grimtooth

My games tend to be fairly crawly. Dungeon crawls, blob crawls, forest crawls. Always crawling. 

Traps are an iconic part of the crawling mode of play but it's easy for them to be boring or frustrating. 

The key to making traps fun is to have a clear idea of what you are trying to add to the game play by placing a trap. There are three distinct reasons I use traps: as obstacles, as set-ups and as resource taxes.

It's also worth mentioning that I never use traps that punish players for insufficient caution. Game time is scarce and I don't want to waste it tapping the walls and examining floor tiles. 

Golems and Robots

 

Cybermen = Necrons = Warforged

Of the canonical D&D races, Warforged are one of my favorites. 

Made Men

Constructed life interests me.Where is the line between machine and person? What must it be like to know that you were made for a specific purpose (or made for no reason at all)? Does your creator own you? Can you rebel?

Frankenstein, Pygmalion, Blade Runner, the Iron Giant. Perhaps even Milton's Lucifer?

This is a cluster of themes and questions, that I find myself invoking a lot in my games, both when choosing characters as a player and when building worlds, societies and NPCs when I'm DMing.

For me, it all originates here: 

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. - Genesis 2:7

Our Successors

Will we be overtaken by our creations? Will they resent us for making them to labor? Will they enslave us in return? Will we become to them, what cattle are to us?

Second Variety, At the Mountains of Madness, Terminator, Battlestar Galactica, the Matrix and the anxieties of Nick Bostrom. 

Relics of the Deep Past

What if the past is better left buried? Will the uncovered armies of lost ages resume their wars, unconscious and uncaring towards present people?

The Mummy, The Pastel City, Prometheus.

Ambush!

I'm on vacation & posting from my phone so apologies if the formatting is even rougher than my (admittedly sloppy) usual.

I designed this as an ambush encounter for the White Apes of Thurstle Island's City of the Ancients. But it should be transferrable to any system and most settings.

Thurstle Island: Gnarls of the Forest

Magazine Illustration from 1906

AUGUST/ SEPTEMBER 2020: Looking to add another player or two to my online game. Let me know if you are interested.

This post fills in additional details about Thurstle Island's Old Forest.

The Old Forest's Druids call themselves the Gnarls. They have lived in the forest long past recorded memory and serve the Allwaker, landvættir of the island. 

• The Gnarls never sleep. They are always awake. Likewise for their animals.
• Many of them have learned to transform themselves into animals or are skilled wargs.
• They are the religious leaders of the island's vikings and they preside over rituals in the woods on certain prescribed nights. 
• They are experts in camouflage and ambush. Often, the first sign that they are nearby will be a javelin protruding from your chest.

• The are closely allied with the forest's trees. They can sense any harm to the trees and will rush to intervene. Some have learned the language of the trees.
• The druids practice human sacrifice to feed the Allwaker and their treants. They will try to capture intruders rather than kill them. 
• The smugglers also kidnap strangers in Cove Town and hand them over as payment for passage and concealment in the forest. 
• The druids sometimes summon fog to cover the landing of smuggler ships.
• The Gnarls are locked in a covert war with cultists based in Thurstle Island's northwest corner. 
• The war is going badly and the cultists are gaining strength.
• They have been transplanting trees into the City of the Ancients for decades. If you see a grove in the City, it's a Druid strong-point.

My original forest map has encounters for most paths that will be triggered the first time the party moves through. After that, I want traveling through the forest without pacifying the druids to be scary and painful but I don't want to be bogged down on lots of tedious fights. Thus:

Thurstle Island: Barrow of the Twisted Wyrm

The dragon of Thurstle Island is buried in its most traditional dungeon, a prison-tomb filled with traps, puzzles, undead and demons.

How It Works

Pale blue post-it

• The barrow has three levels and this post details the first one, the upper tomb.
• Lore about this dungeon is seeded all over the island, on stelae, in rumors etc. 
• The central chamber is a magical maze. Living creatures cannot pass through the walls but objects and undead can. The party will likely attract the cursed husks of former tomb-raiders here.
• Each of the wings contains a blend of traps, puzzles and monsters protecting artifacts of Ulric's battle with the wyrm. In a few places the horrors below are peeking through.
• A locked stairway leads to the lower levels. 
• The second level of the dungeon is crawling with demons and the lowest level holds the remains of the wyrm itself. 
• Each level down is a very large increase in difficulty for adventurers. My intent is that the players will explore the first level, leave to gather strength & information, and then return. 
• The wyrm is intended as one possible Final Boss for Thurstle Island.
• The cultists in the island's NW worship the wyrm.
• The warrior-monks of the abbey believe they can harness the demon's power for their own ends. They're probably wrong, but even if they are right it will turn out awful.
• The druids from the Old Forest know that something evil is hidden in the barrow but have lost most of the details over the centuries.

Album Cover

Thurstle Island: The Willing Few, Smuggler Faction Focus

The Tree Fort

Yet another post-it map. 

To keep intruders from stumbling onto their cave-cliff hideaway, Thurstle Island's smugglers have fortified the trail through the Old Forest that leads to their base with traps and an arboreal watch post. Tricky to attack or defend, depending on how the player's allegiances develop. 

• Guards: 3d4 smugglers will be present at any given time. Stats as bandits or pirates.
• Battlements: Guards with javelins and bows guard the path from hoardings built in the tree. They have excellent cover and field of view. Rope ladders can be lowered to access the fort.
• Ready Room: The happening hangout spot and a convenient place to retreat if the action on the battlements gets too hot. Games and snacks. If you root around, roll on the "Search the Body" table. 
• Stores: A few quiver's of arrows, 2d6 harpoons, flask of lockjaw poison. 
• Living quarters: Another option for retreat, higher up in the tree. Not visible from the ground and only accessible from a rickety stair and a narrow bridge. Easily defended. 
• Crow's Nest: Very high up, above the surrounding canopy. Gives a good view of the Cliff Path, the Sword Meadow and the Fog Cliff, as well as the entrance to the cave hideout (map) and the trail up to the Fort. Contains a few signaling flags and a spyglass.
• Harming the Tree: Setting a fire or starting to saw will quickly draw a horde of angry druids. The players should know that this is suicide.

More about the gang, its members and modes below.

Thurstle Island: Surface Encounters in the Ancient City

Stats as bugbear.

Despite their fearsome reputation, the White Apes of the Ancient City are reclusive and intellectual. 

Unknown to Thurstle Island's vikings, the apes are a failed experiment of the City's builders. 

• They were supposed to be a military force. Although strong and agile they proved too independent and insufficiently warlike. They just want to be left alone to debate philosophy and take long naps.
• Their pelts are incredibly warm. Vikings highly prize fur-suits made from their hides. 
• If you have a lot of gold, you can buy one in the camp. 
• The apes do not like to see people wearing their skins.
• After being hunted by the Vikings for years, the apes have become reluctant experts in trap-building and ambushes. The ruins are covered in their cleverly constructed snares, pits and deadfalls. They are amply supplied with glass weapons. 

Thurstle Island: The Ancients Themselves

The City of the Ancients forms the main mega-dungeon of my Thurstle Island mini-setting. It is an abandoned alien city inspired by all of the ancient aliens of Lovecraft. In this post, I'll sketch an outline of it's builders.

The Gith

The humans of this world are not special. We are not the only examples of our species. Scattered across the stars, the inverted labyrinths and the manifold planes of the multi-verse, there are many races of men and women. Our origin is further back in infinite history than even the gods remember and many gods share our shape. 

One such race, born among the stars, is the spindle-limbed Gith. They are no less human than us, but their bodies are longer and more fragile and their brains have additional organs that allow them to grapple with the semiotic framework of the world directly. They are less rooted in matter. 

• The Gith, otherwise know as the Greys, are psychic alien humanoids.
• They look like Alberto Giacometti sculptures.

Thurstle Island: Ziggurat of Yog

Another Post-it Map

The landscape of Thurstle Island's City of the Ancients is pierced by many towers. Among these is a sinister 200 meter black stone ziggurat. 

Five layers rise into the sky, and a single steep, narrow stair climbs to the pinnacle. The rise of the steps is much to high for a humans foot, and their breadth is very narrow. There are no railings to prevent a lethal fall. At the top, there is a shrine and a shaft that descends all the way down, through the structure, and into the earth. 

This is a small, fairly linear dungeon with a couple minor fights and some obstacles on the way to meet an Elder God and claim a dubious treasure. It should take about one session to run.

Thurstle Island: Notes on Camp

Birka, a historic viking town restoration

Perched on the edge of the City of the Ancients, Thurstle Island's vikings have established a fortified camp. From this base, they regularly venture into the City's towers and under-structure to plunder powerful artifacts and strange materials. 

Thurstle Island: Oozes of the Undercity

Jared Murphy (King328)

In my Thurstle Island campaign, oozes in their many varieties are the corrupted remnants of the Ancients' servitors. Their minds were poisoned by the malign influence of the Twisted Wyrm, buried nearby. This is not an original idea. It is drawn directly from Lovecraft: 

They had always been controlled through the hypnotic suggestion of the Old Ones, and had modelled their tough plasticity into various useful temporary limbs and organs; but now their self-modelling powers were sometimes exercised independently, and in various imitative forms implanted by past suggestion. They had, it seems, developed a semi-stable brain whose separate and occasionally stubborn volition echoed the will of the Old Ones without always obeying it.

The oozes, slimes and jellies overthrew their creators but lacked the sophistication to form a society of their own. Effectively immortal, they have roamed the decaying city for centuries, some are maddened and consumed with hatred, others are merely bewildered and frustrated.

I don't want oozes to be just another sludgy slurry of hit points. Consequently, ooze-type creatures take no damage from weapon attacks. Deciphering their other vulnerabilities is what makes them fun. Each type of ooze is it's own mini-game.

Oozes do share a few things in common: 

• They hate the cold. It slows their movements and their minds. Even minor chilling magics will dramatically reduce their mobility and power. Freezing an ooze solid then shattering it, is one of the few methods that works on nearly every type.
• They are often disrupted by admixture. Dirt, salt, water. It depends on the variety of ooze what bothers them most.
• They can climb vertical pipes and shafts if the concentration of their bulk is large enough to fill the space. I.e. a 10' Jelly Cube can ascend an 8' wide shaft but not a 15' diameter pipe.
• They can squeeze through cracks and small spaces though the process is usually slow. 
• They cannot cross a grate without dropping through.

Fortunately for the players, rods of ooze control are not too uncommon in the Ancient City.

Thurstle Island: City of the Ancients

The metallic ink just doesn't translate on screen.

The City of the Ancients is Thurstle Island's mega-dungeon. A glaciated urban husk, long abandoned by it's starborne builders. Like an iceberg, the portion visible above the surface is merely a fraction of the whole. 

This is largely inspired by John Arendt's Black City and H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountain's of Madness (full text). It will also borrow lots of elements from the new edition of Deep Carbon Observatory (incredible, buy immediately) and Roadside Picnic. 

Unlike Cove Town or the Old Forest, I'm not ready to nail down all the specifics yet. I have the skeleton and plan to flesh it out while the players begin their exploration. They'll probably start with one the mini-dungeons (like this or this) anyhow. 

That said, I want to think aloud as I put it together.

Nodes are significant buildings.

Thurstle Island: Cove Town

Rather than a street map, I opted for a relationship map.

I want Cove Town to be a place for scheming. In contrast to the traps and monsters of the island's dungeons, the conflict and maneuvering in town is primarily social. Different groups control access to critical resources. Supplies, information and opportunities to hire help require making friends with the right people. 

How it Works

I recently solicited the advice of the OSR subreddit on what makes a good starting town. My favorite suggestion was to use the guidelines formatted as the "Gygax 75 Challenge" by Ray Otus based on an old Gary article. The challenge recommends the following components: 

• Town Map: Since politics are more important to me than geographic proximity, I drew mine as relationship web. I'll also give them Kevin Campbell village cards as a visual reference on what shops and services are available. 

Kevin Campbell via Dyson

Zine How-to

My wife works for the Smithsonian's design museum and recently produced a video on the history of zines with a brief tutorial on how to make one (using a pocketmod template).

While the video is focused on zines created by various social movements rather than gamers, I think it may be of interest to folks in our community. 

Check it out, let me know what you think!

DM Tool: Location Table

A couple years ago, I was working on a campaign map and in my brainstorming process I started writing down every interesting location that I could think of. Some basic (city, bridge, gallows etc) others more obscure (tallow mine, petrified forest, leper colony). I filled an entire page.

Ever since, this has been one of the pages in my DM notebook that I use most. Whenever I need to think of a site for an encounter I just scan the list to find an interesting+fitting option. I've populated maps by adding coordinates and rolling for locations.

It's a basic tool, but when I hear other DMs talk about the resources they keep handy, this one never comes up. Are other people using something similar? If so, would you share a copy?

Anyhow, I just migrated to a new notebook, and I took a couple minutes to re-create the list. It's got 250+ entries but I'd love to fill another page or two. I'm posting this to reddit in hopes the hive mind will help me populate another page or two.

What are some places it would be fun to go in an RPG?

Thurstle Island: To the Lighthouse

To the southeast of Thurstle Island, on a little spur of rock, a lighthouse spears out of the sea. Its beacon went out years ago but as Gothic colonization accelerates and the Northmen thegns smuggle more contraband, its strategic importance is growing. 

The Situation

Many years ago, after the earthquake, when the Templar were abandoning their fort, the supply packets to the lighthouse stopped. Trapped at his post, the miserable monk who tended the light starved to death and, soon after, so did the lamp. 

Some time later, en route to an island prison further out to sea, a Gothic ship smashed on the unlit rock. An ebony coffin, containing the vampire Drusilla, bobbed ashore, and the lighthouse found a new master. She enthralled the few sailors who came ashore and now feeds on them just a little every night. The sailors have all gone mad.

Drusilla is trapped on the island. She cannot fly over water and though she needn't breath and could walk to shore on the seabed, she has no way to bring her coffin with her. She will seek to threaten or negotiate anyone arriving on the rock to take her to Thurstle Island. Her husband was also on the ship that stranded her here, but his coffin was made of iron and chained closed. She desperately wants to rescue him.

Karl Alexander Wilke from Die Muskete magazine 1926

This is intended as a low-level dungeon. The grunts are not very threatening. The boss almost certainly outmatches the player characters but wants to negotiate. Gaining control of the island could be a major boon to the players.

Thurstle Island: Old Forest

The Old Forest fills the lowland interior of Thurstle Island. Travel between the clifftop locations around the perimeter of the island usually has to pass through the forest. 

The trees of this wood are crowded, gnarled and tired. Their creak and rustle hide other noises and it is easy to be surprised when moving along the paths. The trees are not friendly to visitors and many of the plants (from an older post) that live under them are deadly in their own right. 

How it Works

This is the central "blob" of the Thurstle Island map. It is a pathcrawl maze. Player characters will need to find routes through the wood in order to reach other parts of the island. 

• Most of the nodes are features of interest that are useful or interesting rather than dangerous.
• Conflicts and obstacles are concentrated on the paths. The first time, player characters travel across them they will trigger the keyed encounter. 
• If they find a way to placate the Druids, many of the more dangerous encounters will be avoided.
• Once the PC's have visited a node, they can "fast-travel" there with a single wandering encounter role
• DM Note: When moving over paths that have already been explored, any encounters that come up will be designed for quick resolution i.e. Druids throw javelins then flee into the woods. I don't want to bog down our gaming time re-hashing the same territory. 
• Many of the node locations contain stele (drawn in on the map) . These will reveal useful parts of the island's history and give clues on how to defeat the boss enemies. They will also grant XP bounties when discovered.

Over the Garden Wall

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Wounds and Infection

Pseudo-Galen (15th Century)

For several weeks, I have wrestled my wound and infection rules for Ultra-Bastard. Seeing Josh's recent post on MERP-like wound tables last week and Alex's a couple weeks before that, it seems that this is a topic that's in the air. 

This is the Wounds & Infection option I promised in my hit points post back in March. 

• When an attack deals more damage than you have hit points left, your hit points are reduced to zero and you must roll on the wounds table. Hit points do not go below zero
• When a wound receives care (bandages, a sling etc.) you no longer suffer from the temporary effect, but must apply the permanent effect. 
• For the purposes of rolls on the wounds table, count every wound that has not been treated. Wounds that have been treated are not added.
• Some enemy attacks may make you roll with an additional plus on the wounds table. 
• Some attacks are gross and cause infections. While infected you cannot regain hit points from rest. Some infections grant saves and some get worse over time.
• Optional: Limbs shall be splintered. Once per character (for their whole life) when a blow would kill you, you can instead permanently lose a limb (of course you have the options of a hook, peg-leg, mechanical claw etc.)
• Optional: If an attack reduces you to exactly zero hit points, when you are healed, your hit point maximum is increased by 1 (subject to the hit point cap).

Thurstle Island: Smuggler's Caves

I started brainstorming how to layout the Smuggler's Cave dungeon for Thurstle Island and the doodle turned into something I liked.

It is widely believed that Thurstle Island has only one navigable beach, but several years ago Skarde the Boneless found a hidden inlet accessible via a system of caves. He recruited a tight-knit gang (the Willing Few) and together they make enormous profits circumventing the Governor's taxes and importing contraband. They have a sideline manufacturing berserker drugs derived from the island's ice snakes.

The smuggler gang, could be an invaluable ally to PCs who fall afoul of the island's authorities. Alternatively, if the PCs want to hunt the outlaws, their hideout is a small, vertically-oriented dungeon.

• This is intended as a low-level adventure, but could be easily scaled up. 
• Smugglers have stats as bandits or pirates (5e or OSE) and will attempt to imprison intruders. They are not bloodthirsty and will likely negotiate. They will flee tough resistance and summon help. 
• If they are alerted and have time to prepare, some will take berserker salts which grant bonuses equivalent of a barbarian's rage. While berserking, they will not listen or negotiate.

Map key below:

Thurstle Island: Introduction

Sketch, my own.

My usual 5e game has been on hiatus during pandemic lock down and so I've been running Mork Borg online (Tuesdays @ 7:30 Eastern, let me know if you'd like to join). It's been a lot of fun, but it started as a one-shot and so follow-up sessions have been a scramble each week to prep a handful of funhouse encounters and puzzle monsters with little over-arching story.

There's a campaign I've had kicking around in my head for six or eight months and I think that after a few more sessions of Mork Borg, my online crew might be ready for a shift to a regular campaign.

The campaign will take place on an island. I'm aiming for a manageable, self-contained area with a few dungeons, two towns and a sinister forest. It will serve as my first Blob Crawl oriented game.

Long ago, when the Giants were as large as mountains. Woden slew the giant Thurstle and threw their corpse into the sea. Thurstle turned to stone and has been an island ever since. 

EDIT: I will link the pieces below as they are completed.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Leveling Up

Toshiaki Kato

When a character levels up in Ultra-Bastard, they gain 1d6 + constitution modifier hit points and gain options from the advancement table for their class. Pick two or roll three. An option may only be picked once per level-up.

As an example, this is the advancement table for the Bastard class which combines the traditional fighter, specialist and mage roles.

Blob Crawl

Smallworld

Hex crawls in D&D don't work for me. I've tried a few times but ultimately I keep running into the same issues.

I've learned to write good dungeons, but overland travel is a struggle.

More(k) Borg

The Mork Borg game, that I started on a whim to entertain friends during COVID lockdown continues. Last night, we ran our 6th session. 

Brief re-caps below (including a 10 room dungeon level).

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Spells & Magic

In Ultra-Bastard, there is not a limit on how many spells a magic user can cast in a day and there are no spell levels. There are other restrictions on spells and many spells come with a cost.

This is a replacement for my previous unsuccessful spell system and is so-far untested. I am still wrestling with the balance and so this is all subject to revision as play-testing occurs. Feedback and suggestions are welcomed.

Spells Known: Every mage has a spell book (or perhaps a bag of scrolls or something similar) and they can cast any spell that they have recorded in their book. 

Memorizing Spells: Mages can memorize a number of spells equal to their intelligence modifier.  Mages can spend a rest attempting to memorize one spell (an intelligence check).

Casting Spells: Spellcasting is draining. Every time a character starts casting a spell, they lose one hit point.

• Off the tome: When casting a spell from your spell book, make a saving throw (DC is typically 10 + Intelligence Modifier) on a failure, the spell fails, potentially with additional negative consequences. In combat, it takes d4 rounds to lookup a spell, focus concentration and begin casting. If attacked or otherwise distracted, the caster must start over.
• Off the dome: Memorized spells can be cast in combat without having to look them up. Once cast, the spell is no longer memorized. Taking the time to memorize a spell avoids the danger of spell failure for most spells.
• Some spells allow their target to make a saving throw. 
• Certain spells require a successful intelligence check to cast.

Material Components: Spells require material components which are consumed during casting. Unless specified in the spell description, the components required are basic, interchangeable and easily purchased in a normal town. If playing with encumbrance rules, one inventory slot can hold sufficient components for three spells. 

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Skills

Skills in Ultra-Bastard are open-ended. This whole sub-system is optional.

• There is not a pre-defined skill list.
• Skills range between +1 and +10.
• When you make an ability check and have a relevant skill you can add that skill value to your roll. 
• The more specific a skill, the easier associated checks. 
• If you have more than one skill that could apply, use the one with the better bonus (bonuses do not stack).
• Some actions cannot be attempted unless you have a relevant skill.
• If an action would be routine for someone with a skill, the DM can judge it to be automatically successful.
• When a player asks for information about a topic, the DM might ask if they have a relevant skill and tailor the response accordingly.
• Starting skills are determined by your class. 
• New skills can be learned and existing skills can be improved during character advancement. 
• The DM will need to make a lot of ad-hoc rulings. This is fine. 

The DM should offer players guidance on whether skills are likely to be useful in the campaign. I.e. if the game will focus primarily on dungeon exploration, woodsmanship might not be helpful.

Return to Mork Borg

The dregs of the Shadow King's prisons made another venture into the warrens under his castle in our Mork Borg Redux. This time exploring a dungeon I created myself. Map, recap and further thoughts on Mork Borg as a system below the fold.

Delving into the Dark Fort: A Visit to MORK BORG

UPDATE: We're playing again Tuesday, March 24 @ 7:30 Eastern. Let me know if you want in.

A few weeks ago, I bought the much discussed Mork Borg. I read it cover to cover and enjoyed drinking in all of its grotty art.

There's lots of reviews online with a variety of viewpoints. I watched Adam Koebel's First Look and I feel like he does a good job of showing what the game is all about. That is to say, over-the-top, ultra-stylized graphically grotesque. Everything in the book reinforces the feeling.

I've seen criticisms of the book pointing out the "inefficiency" of it's layout. I totally disagree.

The book is very efficient with it's words. If all the formatting was stripped away and the book was converted into a text file, it could be printed on a couple sheets of paper. In fact, they have a one page rules reference that has almost everything you need to run it.

Instead of filling the pages with words, the creators filled the pages with evocative art and creative layouts. They prioritize the transmission of tone and attitude, and since they've been careful and concise they have lots of space.

The book is great. If it appeals to you at all, get it.

Last night, I played it for the first time. With everyone in the NYC area locked-down and flattening the curve, I hosted an online game and ran Rotblack Sludge, the short adventure included with the game. Play report below, spoiler filled.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Combat and Initiative

Michael Foreman

When combat begins, roll initiative to determine the order in which combatants act. Ultra-Bastard supports two options for resolving turn-order in combat.

On their turn, each combatant can cast a spell or attack, and move. Other significant actions like climbing a ladder or lighting a lamp could replace the attack. Minor actions like dropping an item do not prevent the combatant from attacking.

Attacks: When a player attacks, they make an ability check, rolling a d20 and adding any applicable modifiers. If the result is equal to or higher than their opponents armor class they hit and roll for damage as indicated by their weapon type, adding any applicable damage modifiers.

Some optional rules like bows and thrown weapons may allow an extra attack.

Casting Spells: Each spell description will detail how to cast it and the resulting effects. For detailed rules on casting spells consult the spell casting rules (in a future post).

Blogger scrambled my formatting. My apologies for the rough reading.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Social Moves

The DM will use moves like the ones below to determine the outcome of important interactions. To use a move, describe what you do. Don't just say "I want to Bargain or Manipulate this Margrave."
The moves happen when certain conditions are met and it should be easy for the DM to see what you are trying to do.

These are not the only moves that exist. Some will be revealed in play. Some are only available in particular environments. Some might only happen once.

Bargain or Manipulate: When you have leverage over someone tell them what you want and roll +Charisma.

On a 10+	They'll do it for a fair price or reasonable promise, it's up to you whether you pay up.
On a 7 - 9	They'll do it but demand a high price and some concrete assurance right now. -or- The DM will tell you what it will take to make them do what you want. Do it and they will.

The existence of this move should NOT be interpreted as an invitation to try talking your way into discount supplies or gear. Your DM did not create a fantasy world for you so they could haggle over the price of torches. Don't be a bad person.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Basic Mechanics

Santiago Caruso

When you attempt a challenging action the DM might require a roll to determine if you succeed. There are two main types of rolls: Ability Checks and Moves.

Ability Checks: Roll d20 + relevant ability modifier vs. a target number set by the DM. If your roll is equal to or higher than the number you succeed.

• If you are playing with the optional Skills rule, you might add a modifier for a relevant skill.
• An attack roll is an ability check made to hit an enemy in combat. These are often made with additional modifiers. Typically, the target number is your opponents armor class.

Moves Roll 2d6 + relevant modifier (specified in the Move's description). On a roll of 10+ you succeed fully, on 7-9 you succeed but incur a complication, and on a 6 or less you fail and the situation gets worse.

• These are especially common in social situations and when gathering information.

A Few Favorites

Definitely watch this.

Cross-linking has always been how I've found D&D stuff, so I wanted to pause for a moment to highlight some rad things made by other people.

• Frothsof is doing a more thorough blog roundup weekly.
• Anne over at DIY & Dragons has also done a great best-of post recently.  

I'll continue posting my Ultra-Bastard house-rules soon.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Hit Points

Mike Mignola, of course.

In Ultra-Bastard, character hit-points are an abstract measure of one's ability to absorb damage before taking a serious injury.

Characters have a d6 + constitution mod hit points per level. This is often modified by class options, character advancements and adventuring consequences.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Ranged Weapons

Ultra-Bastard has no restrictions on weapon type by character class and there is no "proficiency" in this system. Class options and character advancement might grant bonuses to a particular weapon.
 
Ranged weapons typically add dexterity mod to their to-hit roll. Thrown weapons add the better of strength mod or dexterity mod. 

Type	Damage	Description
Light crossbow	1d6	Cannot load if you move on your turn
Heavy crossbow	d12	Takes a full turn to load.
Shortbow	1d6	Optional: Minimum strength 13. Fires twice per round.
Longbow	1d8	Optional: Minimum strength 15. Fires twice per round.

You cannot load or fire a ranged weapon while engaged in melee. 

Thrown weapons roll the same die for damage as if they were used in melee (but without adding an ability modifier to damage). I.e. a knife does d4, a tomahawk does d6 and a spear does d8.

I don't use strictly defined range limits/modifiers because in practice they almost never come up. 

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Armor

Armor Class (AC) is the number that must be hit to successfully land a weapon attack on an enemy. Monster armor class is a target number for ability checks and player AC is a saving throw. When attacking a monster, a player must roll above the enemies AC to hit. When being attacked, a player must roll under their own AC to avoid being hit.

The unarmored default is AC 8.

I do not associate a particular armor class with a particular type of armor. You can have leather or chain armor from +1 though +6.

Ultra-Bastard D&D: Melee Weapons

Micah Ulrich

Ultra-Bastard has no restrictions on weapon type by character class and there is no "proficiency" in this system. Class options and character advancement might grant bonuses to a particular weapon.

Usually, melee weapons add strength mod to their to-hit roll and damage. Certain light weapon add a dexterity mod to their to-hit roll but don't add an ability mod to damage. Which is which should be obvious. If in doubt ask the DM.

Type	Damage	Examples
Minor	d4	Scalpels,  blackjacks,  daggers
Light	d6	Crowbars,  rapiers, machetes, hatchets
Heavy	d8/d10	Battleaxes, bastard swords , spears
Great	d12	Zweihanders, halberds, mauls etc.

"Heavy" weapons can be wielded one-handed for d8 damage or two-handed for d10.

Special Rules. These are optional but I like them.

Knives are scary: Knives roll 1d4 for damage. If the die comes up as an even number, it is re-rolled and the result added to the total. Stabbity-stabbity-stab.

Reach advantage: When two creatures first enter into melee, if either has a significantly longer weapon than the other, she attacks first, regardless of initiative.

Empty hands: It's hard to parry a sword with a knife and even harder with your bare hands. If you are armed with only a small weapon, take a -2 penalty to melee defense rolls. Disadvantage for empty hands.  Using a ranged weapon to parry, usually ruins it. Pick up a stick or a chair. Something! Anything!